In general, an air vent for an automobile is an air discharge means of an air conditioning system to appropriately maintain the internal temperature of an automobile, thereby controlling the discharge of air by controlling a damper provided to the inside of the air vent.
Further, the damper of the air vent is rotationally provided with a dial for controlling an air flow rate, wherein a means is provided to the rotation structure of the air vent dial such that a user can feel the click phase of the dial.
That is, if the air vent is provided with a damper control part for selectively opening or closing the damper so as to control the flow rate of the air introduced into the inside of the automobile, the damper control part includes the dial assembly and a plurality of link members for controlling the damper and the dial assembly.
In order to improve the click phase of the dial assembly according to a prior art, referring to FIG. 1, a leaf spring 1′ is coupled such that the leaf spring 1′ is pushed by holding projections provided to a dial housing at the time of the rotation of a dial assembly 30′ so as to apply the click phase. Therefore, the leaf spring 1′ is selectively fixed at a point that a user desires and controls the air flow rate of the damper.
However, the prior art described above, in which the click phase is applied by providing the leaf spring to the dial assembly by inserting the both end portions of the leaf spring into the dial assembly so as to be coupled thereto, has a disadvantage that the leaf spring is pushed by the holding projections and escapes from the dial assembly.
In addition, the leaf spring coupled to the dial assembly has another disadvantage that the coupling process is difficult in terms of the manufacturing method of metal materials, resulting in the increase of the parts cost due to the rise of manufacturing costs.
Therefore, Korean utility model publication no. 20-0462226 discloses a technique for improving the click phase of a dial assembly, wherein an elastic member 40′ made from a plastic material is coupled to a dial assembly 30′, as shown in FIG. 2, thereby preventing the rise of manufacturing costs and improving the convenience of assembling work.
That is, the elastic member 40′ of the above technique can be mainly formed in an assembling manner such that one end of the elastic member 40′ is fitted into a pin in a state, in which the other end of the elastic member 40′ is coupled to the dial assembly 30′, or with projection portion 3′ projecting from the center of a support portion 2′ which connects the both ends such that the projection portion 3′ is pushed by the holding projections of a dial housing.
According to the technique described above, a pin coupling hole of the one end is formed as an elongated hole and a hole of the other end is formed to be open in order to carry out the assembling of the elastic member into the dial assembly. Therefore, the technique described above still has a disadvantage that the pin of the dial assembly and the open hole of the other end are likely to separate by vibration and shock, resulting in the malfunction of a dial.
Further, according to the technique described above, the elastic member is rotated in a state, in which the one end is first pin-coupled and then the other end is fitted. Therefore, a space is required for the rotation of the elastic member in the dial assembly, resulting in the enlargement of parts and the increase of the number of required parts, thereby making the assembling work complicated.